My Beau Friend

No, Beau and I are not boyfriend/girlfriend, but his name is Beau and he IS my friend, so that makes him my Beau Friend.

I FINALLY received some pictures from my friend, Brandi, so you can officially see what Beau looks like. He seems to make the same face in every picture, so don't judge him on that!

No, we did not plan our outfits together. This was the very first night I met him, so it was coincidence that we are wearing the exact same thing!

So there you have it. Isn't he cute?

Case

When I arrived home tonight from Wichita, Case was sitting in the window watching me unload my stuff. I waived and smiled, and he waved back. I opened up the front door and he came running up to me wanting a kiss. I leaned down and kissed him, but that wasn't enough for him. He wanted a hug, too, so I leaned down and gave him a great big hug. It was so heartwarming to be greeted in such a way by my little love.

About an hour later, Shan, Jeff and Case ran some errands. They were arriving home right as I was leaving to get groceries. Jeff rolled down his window to see where I was going and Case said, "Hi Dido. I missed you."

This little guy warms my heart. I missed you, too, Case!

Road Trip

Kari and I are headed to Wichita, KS to visit our dear friend, Abby. Abby married Corey a year ago and moved to Wichita, so we're going to go see their place and have girl time. I am soooooo excited. Kari and I are renting a car in about one hour, and then we will begin our 8-9 hour road trip. We'll get in about 3am, and then we'll have all day Friday and Saturday to hang with Abby. We'll come back Sunday morning/afternoon.

About Kidnappings and Other Tall Tales

There once was a time my mom thought I had been kidnapped. And no, I wasn't five. I wasn't ten. I wasn't 15. I was 26 years old, and my mom was having a panic attack in Kearney while I was having a drink on my friend's front step.

My story begins on a sunny Saturday afternoon. My friend, Jessica, lived in Parker at the time, and we were meeting up to go shopping and have a drink together. I hopped in my car and ventured off to Parker, which is a suburb about 30 minutes east of Littleton. I arrived in Parker about 30 minutes too early, so I decided to stop at Home Depot to look at paint samples. You see, I was about to move in with Shan and Jeff into their new house, and they had told me I could paint my room any color I wanted.

As I drove to Home Depot, I talked on my cell phone to my friend in Oregon. After hanging up, I dropped my phone in my lap as I parked my car in the Home Depot parking lot. I got out of the car, walked inside and browsed for about 20 minutes through the paint colors. I left the store, got back into my car and drove away to meet up with Jessica. As I was driving I realized that I couldn't quite remember how to get to Jessica's house. I had been there once before, but I knew that my memory wasn't quite good enough to find it, so I reached for my phone in my purse only to discover that I couldn't find my phone.

To make a really long story kind of short, I figured I had left the phone in Home Depot, so I returned to the store. I searched my car, searched the store, asked workers in the store if they had a phone turned in, searched the lot, etc. My phone was nowhere to be found. I hung out in Home Depot for about 20 minutes hoping someone would turn in my phone, and I kept checking with the Customer Service counter. No luck!

By this time, I knew Jessica was waiting for me. I had no way to get a hold of her, so I took my chances on finding her house by pure luck. It took me about 20 minutes to find her place, but I finally took enough wrong turns that I ended up on her street. She had been trying to get a hold of me and was starting to worry that something had happened because I ALWAYS answer my phone.

In the meantime, my mom was trying to get a hold of me, too. She called. No answer. She called again. No answer. She called again. This time, someone answered, but it wasn't me. It was someone who worked at Home Depot. The worker said my phone had been found in the parking lot and turned in to her, but she didn't know who the phone belonged to so she decided to answer it since MOM CELL kept calling.

My mother, being the drama queen that she is, immediately thought, "SHILOH'S BEEN KIDNAPPED." I mean, who honestly thinks that???!!! My mother, I guess.

Her train of thought went something like this: Shiloh never leaves her phone behind. Shiloh always answers her phone. Shiloh has never stepped foot inside a Home Depot. Shiloh doesn't live anywhere near Parker. Shiloh must have been kidnapped. Shiloh, in an effort to notify someone that she's been kidnapped, must have thrown the phone out the window. Shiloh must be terrified and scared. Shiloh needs help!

Meanwhile, Jessica and I are enjoying a drink on her front porch.

Mom begins making phone calls. She calls my sister, who happens to be in Kearney for the weekend. Shannon has no idea where I am, so she calls my brother. Collin has no idea where I am. She calls April, who has no idea where I am. She attempted to call Kari, but she doesn't have Kari's number and Kari doesn't know where I am.

It's official; I've been kidnapped.

Jessica and I are laughing on the front porch as we drink a margarita.

Mom is panicking; I've been kidnapped and I don't even have a phone to call anyone because I threw it out the window in order to notify someone I've been kidnapped.

Jessica and I decide to call Home Depot to see if my phone has been turned in. After being placed on hold for a while, the person tells me the good news that my phone was turned in. Jessica and I finish our drink and then head to Home Depot to get my phone.

Mom is about to call the police. I pick up my phone at Home Depot and see my mom has called several times.

"Hey mom, what's up? I see that you called?"

"Praise God! You're OK? Where are you? Why are you in Parker? Why is your phone at Home Depot? You should never throw your phone out of the window if you get kidnapped! Keep it on you so you can call someone!!!"

"Kidnapped? What? Mom, have you been drinking?"

Blunders in the Classroom

I totally said something inappropriate yesterday to my 10th graders, and I was so embarrassed I turned bright red and couldn't stop giggling.

We were talking about Jay Gatsby who is in love with Daisy. In order to impress Daisy, he takes her into his home and shows her all his nice suits and clothes. My 10th graders were wondering why he did that, and I explained to them that in the 1920s, people took great pride in their clothes and the way they dressed.

I said, "In present day, you girls probably wouldn't be impressed if a guy showed you his clothes. But think about it. If a guy took you into his house, what big thing could he show you to impress you?"

As soon as I said it, I knew I had totally messed up. Everyone started laughing, and I was laughing so hard I had tears coming out of my eyes. I turned bright red, and they thought it was hilarious that I was so embarrassed.

I hope they didn't tell their parents what I said.

The Shi-Loh Down Week 5

The Shi-Loh Down
For an explanation of my social experiment, click here.
Here's week one, two, and three.

Notice how's there's no week four?! That's because I didn't really meet anyone last week. I did go out with my friend Brandi last weekend in Colo Springs, and we did meet a few interesting men, but not a single one of them sparked my interest and I got nothing more than a name from them. I don't even know if they got my name. So rather than talk about nothing, I chose not to talk.

Week five is a tad more interesting. I started off by meeting two guys on Thursday night while watching the Steelers game. I met up with Lindsey and Ben and a few others, and I was excited to see these two guys with the crowd. I introduced myself to Mike and Dusty. Both were very outgoing and personable, so I knew we were in for a fun night. Lindsey and I ordered our wings, and then I noticed the DREADED. SILVER. RING. ON. THE. LEFT. HAND. Dusty was married! Then I peaked at Mike's hand, and Mike was married. Gosh, like 75% of the guys I have met are married. I still had a blast that night, even though my two prospects were married.

This past weekend was my birthday weekend, so Kari, Abby H. and I headed up to Evergreen to a bar called Little Bear. We always have a blast at this place, as it's a small town bar where the locals are quite interesting and there's always a story or two coming out of that place. I've had a lady jump into my arms, I've had a lady in a silver onesie (that looked like a space suit) tap me on the shoulder (there's a story), and I've seen a lady take off her bra and throw it up on stage (this bar is notorious for this-bras are hanging from the rafters).

The three of us girls headed up to experience Little Bear. We were not disappointed. This was Abby's first time up there, and she was amazed at the things going on around us. We danced our booties off while the band, Something Underground, played our favorite cover songs. As is most often the case, Kari ran into some people she knew. She's from Evergreen, so it's almost impossible for her NOT to know someone. It was an old high school friend who was there with other friends, so Abby and I were introduced to Kevin, Eric, Hunter and a few others I can't remember. Everyone was fabulously friendly, and we all became instant friends. These guys even bought me a birthday beer and sang Happy Birthday to me...in Spanish. Very sweet.

Abby is a mere 5'3", and this guy was 6'8". She is literally standing right behind him, and she doesn't even come up to his shoulder blade!I spent the most time with Hunter. Not only is he large in size, but he's also large in personality. He was a blast, as you can tell from the pictures.

We joked all night about the wonderful world of Facebook and how the "poking" features is the laziest way of saying hi to someone (if you don't know what poking means, then you're obviously not in the world of FB). Hunter and I found each other on FB last night, and guess how he said hi?! He poked me!

Girls Night Out (or In)

A few weekends ago, I had a Girls Night Out. The theme was Martini's and Chocolate, so I made chocolate fondue and had recipes for four different martini drinks. Here's the night in pictures. From left to right: Kristen, Amanda, Sonya, Cindy and Kari.

From left to right: Brandi, Britt Marie, Me, Tiffany, Mary, Lindsey and Shannon.

I met Brandi this summer at Enterprise, and we've become good friends.

Tiffany is my cooperating teacher from Columbine when I student taught last fall.

Britt Marie was a long-term sub at Chatfield last semester when I was also a long-term sub. It sure is a small world. After knowing her for about two days, I recognized her last name and her voice sounded like someone I used to know, so I asked her if she knew a girl named Astrid. I worked with Astrid when I worked for the magazine almost six years ago when I first moved to Denver. Come to find out, Britt Marie is Astrid's sister!

Sonya and me.

Amanda is Kari's sister. She got engaged this past weekend! Congrats, Amanda.

Kari and me.

Lindsey and me. She's going to hate me for saying this...Lindsey is dating Ben, my brother's best friend from Kearney. Lindsey and I have become good friends over the past few months. We both love our football, even though she roots for some BAD teams!

Kristen and I met about five years ago at Enterprise. We both started at the same office and have been friends ever since.